One:
The new big and rich single rhymes nineteen/green/m16 and they had all of these old marines, and images of battle on 20 foot screens behind them, it was this strange, amazing conflation of public spectacle and historical revisonism, almost but not quite about iraq

Two:
Starting with a 20 foot projection of himself, ending with formation dancing vegas show girls, worshipping trace adkins, Honky Tonk Badonkadonk continues to triumph

Three:
Jesus Take the Wheel, Carrie Underwood's new single, is intensely, powerfully, religious, desperate in its faith, and one of the best written songs this year. Her performance is overwhelming in its power. She cries at the end of the performance, and later, when winning, remembers to thank Simon Callow and 19 Records (cf Clarkson at the Grammies)

Four
Gretchen Wilson Politically Uncorrect, the second single to use the phrase low man on the totem pole (the other one is by Toby Keith), the most politically expolisive thing about the entire fucking song is the acknowledgement that america might actually have a working poor and talking about being for the working man, something that neither kerry nor bush were for the last election, its become somewhat of an anthem (THIS TIME WITH MERLE) who sings really well with Wilson, sort of a whiskey/honey kind of arrangement (the conflation of working class values with religion and the miltary has a kind of kinder kircher kuche vibe on the edges, esp. with the waving american flag motiff

Five
This is the first performance that convinced me that the pretty blonde from sugar land was as a good singer as the scary dyke--the dyke (who may be fired now, cause i didnt see her playing this time) is still one of the best guitar players ive heard on recent radio, this ones a rocker (and quite a good time)

Six
Jo Dee Messina looks like somewhere b/w one of Prince's back up dancers, and Raquel Welch in 1 000 000 years BC

Seven
Montgomery Gentry, continues to combine small town nostaliga, with a myriad of daddy issues. There is a different between the anger of working class rebellion in Gretchen Wilson, no matter how stage managed it is, and Gentry's who seems to think that if you are working at all, just shut up and quit yr bitching, for someone so loud they sure seem to like ideological compliance.

Eight
Vince Gill one of the genuinely kind men in the industry, gives his humanitarian award to a small child with cancer, and yeah its mawkish and kind of sentimental, but unscripted and i find myself welling up.

Nine
Little Big Town's Boondooks, useless for the first three minutes, the harmonic convergance of the last few lines, quick and free, are effortless, and so well constructed. It starts with this almost hip hop scat singing, and then goes into this round, almost a hipper barber shop, one of the best musical moments of the night.

Ten
we rock to live, we live to rock--rascall flatts (they dont)
b)
Kelly Clarkson doing Rascall Flatts ballads shows the strength of Clarksons' voice and the weakness of the the Flatts writings

Eleven
The Wright Brothers qoute the infamous Hunter Thompson line about the music industry being a plastic trench (they are doing it from memory, off teleprompter, because they paraphrase, the full qoute is: ""The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Quite bitter for a self conglaturatory wank fast.

Twelve:
I love Sara Evans, but she hasnt been with in a thousand miles of anything resembling a coal mine.

Thirteen:
Ever time I hear Brooks and Dunn, i hate them more and more, i am almost now becoming almost ill hearing them again, and i dont know why---i could use words like artifical nostaliga, or toxic sentiment but I like those things in other artists, and it could be the politics of the domestic, but thats one of the reasons why I listen to country. Its not even the music, church choirs withstanding, they are decent song writers and good instrumentalists...but i hate them, and this performance well constructed towards audience. IT confuses me.

Fourteen
Martina tries to do honky tonk or texas swing or something that requires singer less rigid and less safe. Shes horribly boring.

Fifteen
Dwight Yoakham, ZZ Tops Bill Gibbons, The Byrds Chris Hillman, Blink 182's Travis Barker (!?), Brad Paisley, and members of the original Buck Band, and it doesnt sound bad, but then as long as you keep the energy up, its impossible to make Buck sound bad, and they keep the energy up. (Paisleys realtionship to traditonal country is really interesting, and it contiunes to be here, he seems a natural for the mateiral, but isnt as comfortable as even Barker) Its also Ballad heavy, aside from Act Naturally, which was kind od disappointing...has someone ever written on outlaw country and married pairs, because Bonnie Owens (an amazing singer and song writer on her own right) is getting the same kind of attention as Buck) Also The Streets of Bakersfield is really fucking political in its use of geography/place, sort of the anti Okie from Muskokie

Sixteen
Kenny Chesney again.